Mike Smith allowed just 1 goal on 28 shots before giving up 2 of 3 in the shootout for the shootout loss.

First Period
CAR 13:12, Jokinen 1 (Pitkanen, Ward)(PP)

Second Period
TB 6:00, Malone 1 (Stamkos, St. Louis)(PP)

Third Period
NO SCORING

Overtime
NO SCORING

Shootout
TB- NONE
CAR- Samsonov, Ruutu

There were a lot of things to be happy about with this game. They were much tighter defensively and had a much more even effort throughout the game. This was supposed to be a "hornet's nest" the Lightning were walking into and they managed to carry the play 5-on-5, for the most part. My only nitpick remains the Lightning's play in the physical game. They got outhit 42-25 tonight by Carolina. That can't be what Rick Tocchet has in mind. I want to see guys like Vincent Lecavalier, Andrej Meszaros, and Paul Ranger start to take the body a little more.

We'll have to see what becomes of Matias Ohlund's injury that took him off the ice in the third period.

It was just an uneven effort from the Lightning. At times they looked fantastic, and the Tanguay line in particular looked magical in terms of puck possession, but it seemed like a couple of bad bounces and the team just did not respond. They couldn't manage much puck possession for about a 10 minute span between the first and second periods. It shouldn't be 4-0 before you start to respond to adversity. I applaud the battle level to get back to 4-3, but it was too little too late.

Kurtis Foster disintegrated on his first shift. Yeah, he was the second defenseman I took on my fantasy team. Guess how happy I am? In general, I thought the Lightning were very loose in the neutral zone and they allowed the Thrashers too much speed through the neutral zone, and the defense struggled with it. The backcheck from the forwards needs to get stronger, and I'd like to see Matt Smaby get in there to throw a few hits at the blueline to try and slow the rush down. Hedman had a couple of plays where he had guys lined up well to slow them down at the blueline, but he doesn't have the killer instinct Smaby has. The Lightning actually outhit the Thrashers 21-10, but overall it seemed like a very soft effort by a Lightning team that had its best successes last season when it raised the intensity level and took the body. Andrej Meszaros, in particular, is a guy who is a far better player when he ups his battle level. Ditto Paul Ranger. Ryan Malone had as many hits as the defensive corps combined tonight. That's great for Ryan but unacceptable for those defensemen if they're serious about taking the next step. More intensity please.

Steve Downie had 2 hits in 14:39. He had some good moments. He started on the Lecavalier line and had a couple of chances early and buried Evander Kane on a hit in the first half of the game, too. He made a handful of decent backchecking plays, also. But, by the third period, he was off the Lecavalier line and down on the checking lines. We'll see how this develops.

Zenon Konopka was -1 with 7 penalty minutes, 2 shots, and 1 hit in 6:17. He had a great fight once the Lightning fell behind 4-0 that seemed to wake the Lightning up from their sleepwalking. He contributed something tonight, which is important.

James Wright had 1 shot and 2 hits in 11:53. That third line with Halpern and Miller just didn't seem to do much, even though they were out at key junctures in the game. It's not the kid's fault, but that line in general needs to contribute more.

Victor Hedman got his first NHL assist, but was -2 with 5 shots, 1 hit, and 1 blocked shot in a team high 26:27. He looked good jumping into the play, and was fairly strong positionally. It was a good debut, despite the minuses.

If that was a preview of the regular season, then I'd say that's a pretty resounding statement the Lightning just issued. The Lightning had 3 power play goals and were 3/7 overall with the man advantage. There's no reason for this club not to be top-10 in the league with the man advantage, and it's hard to miss the playoffs when you're that good with the extra man.

Paul Ranger's shoulder must feel ok after playing a team high 22:19. Pretty fascinating ice time distribution in this game among the defensemen with only Ranger going over 20 minutes.

Final cuts are due by Wednesday. Tuesday at noon would be the deadline for the Lightning to place any eligible player who needs to go through waivers on the wire before sending them down to Norfolk.

Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune has released the roster for the Tampa Bay Lightning's only pre-season home game Friday night against the Atlanta Thrashers. 2009 1st round draft picks Victor Hedman and Carter Ashton highlight six prospects that will get important starts in a star-filled lineup in front of an expectant home crowd. After playing 27+ minutes against Dallas Wednesday night, Hedman will get a chance to showcase why he was the #2 overall pick this summer. Ashton will line up on right wing alongside franchise center Vincent Lecavalier and Alex Tanguay on what presumes to be Tampa's top line. A heady start for the young power forward whom most believe is headed back Lethbridge for one more year of juniors. Forwards Paul Szczechura, Richard Panik and Blair Jones get their second consecutive starts after playing Wednesday against the Stars. Jones tallied the go-ahead goal in the third period before the Bolts succumbed to a shootout loss. Prospect goaltender phenom Dustin Tokarski will relieve Mike Smith for the third period and demonstrate to the home crowd as to why he won the 2008 Memorial Cup.

Joining Hedman on the blueline for a second straight game are David Hale, Kurtis Foster, and Mike Lundin. Mattias Ohlund will be making his Lightning debut and Lukas Krajicek rounds out the Bolt defensive corps. Joining Tokarski in net is Lightning #1 goalie Mike Smith in his first game action since a concussion prematurely ended his 2008-09 season.

The Lightning's minor leaguers drop one in a shootout to half of the Stars' first stringers.

TB-3
DAL-4 (SO)

Antero Nittymaki allowed 2 goals on 15 shots through the first 40 minutes before giving way to Jaroslav Janus who allowed 1 goal on 11 shots in the third and overtime before going 2/3 in the penalty shot session for the overtime loss. All in all, a very good performance for a young man who has been challenged to earn a pro contract.

Winners? Brett McLean, who is also looking for a contract, drops 1 goal and 1 assist. The Kurtis Foster experiment gets off to a decent start with a power play assist, a +1, and 4 shots on goal. Richard Panik earns 15 minutes of ice time, which is a team high for forward prospects not named Steve Downie or Drew Miller. And Janus? Probably got a contract.

Steve Downie had a helper and was +1 in 17:03 with 2 penalty minutes, 1 shot, and 4 hits. Still my pick to win the job on the Lecavalier/Tanguay line.

Drew Miller had 1 helper and was +1 with 2 shots and 1 hit in 16:43.

Paul Szczechura was -1 in 12:22 with 1 shot on goal and 2 hits. He was also 33% on draws. If there was a loser in this game, in the race to win a roster, maybe it was Szczechura.

Dana Tyrell was -1 in 12:09 with 2 shots and 1 hit. He had a breakaway opportunity shorthanded he was stopped on. Coach Tocchet said he wanted to see if Tyrell could kill penalties. Shortie breakaways don't hurt.

Martins Karsums had 1 shot and 3 hits in 12:55. He also was stopped in the shootout session.

Blair Jones notched a rebound goal and was +1 in 12:42 with 1 shot, 3 hits, and 1 blocked shot. He also was stopped in the shootout session. Tocchet moved Jones over to right wing with Halpern and Miller, which is ostensibly two-thirds of the likely third line. It was a good opportunity for Jones and he did pretty well with it.

Matt Lashoff was +1 with 1 shot and 1 blocked shot in 18:36. No hits? Matt, brother, do you read the website? We need to see some jam, my friend.

Richard Panik had 1 shot and 1 hit in 15:00. I find it fascinating he got more shifts and more ice time than guys like Tyrell and Karsums who are closer to the NHL, particularly on the power play. They have sky high hopes for this young man, clearly.

The Tampa Bay Lightning take the ice Wednesday night in Dallas, TX for their first pre-season game against the Dallas Stars. Five of BoltProspects' Top 7 ranked prospects, including the top three ranked prospects, will help kick off the Lightning's 2009-10 hockey season. Highlighting the Tampa roster will be 2009 #2 overall pick, Swedish blueline phenom Victor Hedman. Hedman will be joined by fellow 2009 draftees Richard Panik and Jaroslav Janus. Forwards Steve Downie and Dana Tyrell along with defenseman Matt Lashoff round out the remaining top prospects that will be showcased in tonight's opener. Forwards Blair Jones, Martins Karsums, and Paul Szczechura represent three more Top 20 prospects that are fighting for roster spots on the Lightning's bottom lines with overagers Drew Miller and Zenon Konopka.

The Tampa Bay Lightning signed defenseman Victor Hedman to a standard three-year rookie contract today, Executive Vice President and General Manager Brian Lawton announced. Hedman was selected by the Lightning with the second overall pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, the first time in franchise history Tampa Bay has picked second overall. Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune is reporting that the contract has an annual salary of $900,000 (rookie max) with bonuses and incentives pushing the NHL cap hit of the contract to $3.75M annually. The NHL requires bonuses and incentives to count against the salary cap regardless of whether the team actually pays them out to the player.

"We are thrilled to be able to take this next step with Victor today,â€ said Lawton upon making the announcement. "He has a bright future and we intend on him being a member of the Lightning for a long time. We are excited to get his signing behind us so he can solely focus on hockey and the continued development of his game.â€

At yesterday's press conference introducing Hedman to the media prior to the start of the Lightning prospects camp, Hedman elected to wear jersey #77 in honor of famed NHL defenseman Ray Bourque.

It's almost impossible to beat the haul the Lightning got in 1998 (Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Dimitry Afanasenkov, and Martin Cibak), but I think the Lightning might've just completed their second best draft in team history. They already completed a first in history making a pair of first round picks on night one of the draft with Victor Hedman and Carter Ashton, so they were on their way already.

However, their second and fourth round selections really put this draft over the top. Richard Panik is a big time gamble, but he's going to a very good program in Windsor and will be playing for Bob Boughner. On pure talent, he could be even better than Ashton if you can get his head on straight, and he'll be in the environment in Windsor to facilitate that.

And, we love that Alex Hutchings pick. Absolutely love it. You got a hockey player who can play center or wing. Good skater. Good hockey sense. He can pass. He can shoot. He mucks well for a little guy. He just knows how to play the game. It's shocking he fell into the Lightning's lap in the fourth round, and in getting Hutchings the Lightning completed a very successful first four rounds where they got 4 of the top 48 rated prospects by THN and 4 of the top 60 by Red Line. That's in a deep draft, no less, so they got a lot of quality.

The goaltenders, Zador and Janus, seem like a reaction to Karri Ramo's defection. Zador's got to get playing time, but he was a first rounder in the OHL Priority Draft in 2007, so he's got raw ability. Janus made his name at the WJC's and had decent statistics for Erie this season. Because Janus was an overager, he'll probably only have one more year in junior. Zador probably gets two. You're just wishing and hoping one of them develops the way Ramo did when the Lightning took a sixth rounder on him out of Lahti.

I have a feeling the Lightning got some value out of that Gotovets pick. I'm guessing if his name was Johnson or Wilson, he might've gone a couple of rounds sooner, but teams are terrified of the KHL poaching their players. Yes, there's a danger if Gotovets develops he could be poached by Dynamo Minsk, but he's already taken the step of coming over to Shattuck and he already speaks pretty flawless English. I don't think you make that commitment and go to an Ivy League school like Cornell only to turn back around and go back to Belarus, and I have yet to hear about anything glaringly wrong with his game other than the fact he's pretty skinny. He'll be a darkhorse to watch over the next few years.

The only regret is that the Lightning didn't find a way to get an offensive defenseman or two into the system. That'll be something they'll need to look at next year, and they'll certainly continue to try to flesh out their forward depth. Getting Ashton, Panik, and Hutchings was a whale of a start, though. Very good draft. I suspect they get at least three NHL players out of this group.

Update:
Evidently, Janus would've gone to Russia to play in the KHL if he hadn't been drafted, and he wants to play pro this season and not go back to junior. That's an interesting problem for a Lightning organization that has Riku Helenius and Dustin Tokarski all but inked into the lineup in Norfolk next season.

Bio

Hedman is a produce of the Swedish town of Ornskoldsvik, which is the hometown of numerous NHL stars like Peter Forsberg and Markus Naslund. Like Forsberg and Naslund before him, Hedman was trained in the MODO hockey organization. Ever the precocious young player, Hedman jumped to the J20 Superelit ranks quickly for MODO in 2005-2006 at the age of 15 where he played 10 games after spending 8 games at the J18 level. The following year, in 2006-2007, Hedman again split his time between MODO's J18 and J20 clubs, and he appeared for Sweden in the U-18 World Junior Championships where he was named a tournament All-Star after scoring 1 goal and 3 points in 6 games in the tournament. In 2007-2008, at the age of 17, Hedman made his Elitserien debut for MODO, playing in 39 games and scoring 2 goals and 4 points after a short 6 games in J20. Hedman also again appeared for Sweden in the U-18 World Junior Championships and again was named a tournament All-Star with 1 goal and 4 points in 4 games. He also made his debut at the U-20 World Junior Championships and was named a tounrament All-Star there as well after registering an assist and a +1 rating in 6 games. Following the season, Hedman was touted as the leading candidate to be the top pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft by The Hockey News. In 2008-2009, he spent all but 2 games at the Elitserien level with MODO where he played roughly 20 minutes a night and scored 7 goals and 21 points with a +21 rating in 43 games at the age of 18. Hedman's plus/minus rating was tied for the third best in the league. Hedman also appeared in 6 games for Sweden at the U-20 World Junior Championships, but his 2 assists and +4 rating in 6 games were considered a disappointment by his standards. He was named the top skater prospect for in Europe by the NHL Central Scouting Service for the June draft and the top overall prospect by Red Line Report. In June, he was selected by the Lightning second overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. In July of 2009 he signed an entry-level contract with the club.

Scouting Report

Scouting Comments:

"He has as much pure talent as any player in the last four drafts." - Red Line Report

Strengths:

Hedman brings to the table just about every tangible aspect a team could want in a defensive project. Hedman is immense at 6'6" 220 lbs, but has the skating ability of a much smaller player. In addition to his superb mobility, Hedman possesses a booming one time shot that he uses effectively on the power play. His intangibles are equally impressive, as he has preternatural poise in his own zone for a young player and world class hockey sense of what to do with the puck under pressure. He also has good instincts on when to jump into the play offensively, which continue to improve on a year-by-year basis.

Weaknesses:

The only major criticism of Hedman is that although he uses his size well to generate leverage to win puck battles, he lacks the mean streak and nastiness a player with Hedman's size could have. In addition, although Hedman has above average hockey sense in the offensive zone, many scouts consider his offensive upside to be a cut below the elite offensive blueliners in the NHL.

Projection:

Bare minimum, the Lightning have gotten a number one shut-down defenseman capable of anchoring their blueline for a generation. When he is fully developed in three or four seasons, expect Hedman to be a player capable of playing up to 30 minutes a night in all game situations who will routinely post 40-50 point seasons, a la a Jay Bouwmeester. If Hedman should ever develop a mean streak or exceed expectations in terms of his offensive development, he could very well be an annual competitor for the Norris Trophy.